Joe Biden has been out of office for over 300 days now, but his anti-gun legacy lingers, including in the form of a playbook left behind for anti-liberty governors (hello, Governor Gretchen Whitmer!) to consult. NRA-ILA warned of the damaging directives as they unfolded then, and their pernicious effects are still in motion.
Ahead of a massively consequential election year for Michigan in 2026, when all statewide offices are up for a vote and where the balance of power hangs on a handful of seats, Governor Whitmer has turned to the next chapter of the gun-grabber’s guide following her creation of a Gun Violence Prevention Task Force last year. This next installment is the one on gun control that – like a proctological exam – is “good for your health.”
Last month, the Task Force released its latest report via the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. While there’s nothing especially novel to report from its predictable contents, the ongoing effort to classify gun ownership as a public health “crisis” in need of management by government bureaucrats presents a time-honored “cure” to Second Amendment rights.
The 50-page report runs the gamut with a main emphasis on the usual attacks aimed at law-abiding citizens, not criminals. The prescriptions include; ban so-called assault weapons, institute waiting periods on firearm purchases, raise the minimum age to purchase firearms, ban “large capacity” magazines, ban privately made firearms, prevent concealed carry permit holders from using their licenses as permits to purchase firearms and instead require intentionally redundant bureaucracy and expense, expand red flag laws, and many more formulaic wish list items.
It’s funny how supposedly modern, evidenced-based public health interventions look exactly like old-fashioned gun control.
Indeed, missing from the report was the correlation of how exactly these unconstitutional policies align with MDHHS’ stated mission and strategic priorities that the department “provides services and administers programs to empower the health, safety, and prosperity of the residents of the state of Michigan.”
The vehicle for this report being the MDHHS is a crucial part of the national firearm prohibition movement’s off-the-shelf blueprint. NRA-ILA has long been warning of the “public health” approach to gun control at the federal level, noting anti-gun states would follow suit. The directive starts with declaring gun violence (and, inherent in that, mere lawful firearm ownership) a public health crisis.
Next, in order to address the crisis, a task force of “experts” is created, followed soon by reports and recommendations fancifully packaged for consumption to bolster gun control policies as supposedly aligned with “the science” of allegedly politically disinterested “health researchers.”
Weaponizing health care “experts” in an effort to more easily fool the citizenry into rights-adverse “support” in hopes of convincing them this public health crisis needs to be managed by government is critically dangerous. While we know it, predict it, anticipate it, identify it, we can’t let up on fighting it.
Thankfully, at the federal level, President Trump immediately recognized the danger of this scheme and ordered the removal of former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s anti-gun tract, Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America, from the official Department of Health and Human Services website shortly after taking office. He also reduced the workforce and tightened up the grant funding that were contributing to these efforts.
Unfortunately, the states with anti-gun governors still stay the course because ultimately, the facts, the research, the data, the relevance, and the efficacy of their gun control prescriptions never have or will steer the agenda. The end game of prohibition is predetermined.
Every incremental step just conditions the public to support the next one. Precious few of the report’s suggestions addressed due process, self-defense, crime control, or mental health solutions. Instead, they focus most recommendations squarely on law-abiding citizens. To reach the end game, they’re the ones who must be persuaded (or bamboozled or steamrolled, as the case may be).
This anti-gun wish list is more than just a carefully curated documents made to fortify gun control policies. It’s also a campaign policy primer for anti-gun candidates for 2026.
The Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Task Force was created in June of 2024 by order from Governor Whitmer and a legislative package soon followed that enacted various gun control measures such as red flag laws, mandatory storage, and universal background checks. But that was never going to be enough. The next session’s infringements won’t be, either. Too many election year losses in Michigan led to the anti-gun power set up in Lansing, and while Republicans won back the House by a slim margin to hold the line in the legislature this session, the fight will be even more pitched in 2026.
This latest report is a wake-up call for the 2026 state elections, not just for Michiganders, but for all citizens. Coordinated attacks using taxpayer-funded resources and positions of power on Second Amendment rights is a constant concern. The voice and votes of Second Amendment supporters are the only way to stop the next task force and the ominous playbooks they produce.